Melawear

Melawear works with Indian suppliers for its genderless T‑shirts, shirts, hair bands, hats and jackets. COSH! thinks it’s super that the brand is Fairtrade, GOTS, and Grüner Knopf certified, so you can be sure that the cotton fields and textile and stitching factories get a fair wage and can work in good conditions. Melawear is audited annually by FLO CERT experts to ensure compliance with fair trade standards.

Melawear wants to reduce inequality in the world through fair trade between India and Europe. 

In addition, the brand wants to contribute to the local economy actively. Through a Fairtrade premium price, farmer cooperatives receive an extra bonus that can be used to build local infrastructure or schools. COSH! thinks it’s super that extra money is invested to support the community in the long run. 

Melawear also established a new standard, the ​“Fairtrade Textile Standard”, with partner factory PureCotz in Gujarat, India. This label goes beyond the minimum wage and aims to offer workers a living wage. 

Germany introduced a 3% VAT reduction during the Corona crisis to support the economy. Melawear invested the freed-up money in manufacturers who cooperate with the new Fairtrade Textile Standard. Workers in India were greatly affected by the corona crisis. Because of the extra money, the local Indian partner PureCotz could pay the textile workers a decent wage during these difficult times.

The timeless clothing, comfortable t‑shirts, stylish shirts, backpacks and shoes are made from 100% Fairtrade and GOTS-certified cotton. The buttons of the cotton knitwear are made of Tagua nuts, a natural material.

The brand chooses to make the clothing as much as possible from one material, organic cotton, so that the clothing is also easier to recycle afterwards. 

A minor exception is the shoes, which are difficult to make from just one material. But Melawear also works with sustainable materials for its shoes and sneakers. The shoe soles are made from Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) certified rubber sourced from Sri Lanka. Melawear also assures that no plastics are in its shoes, so they will not leave behind microplastics.

The leather used for details in the backpacks and shoes is vegetable-tanned. This means that the leather has been treated with natural materials. A process that takes longer but is much more environmentally friendly than chemical processes.

The brand calculated its impact when the Melawear backpack was nominated for the German Sustainability Award. What did it reveal? Using only organic cotton in 2016, the company saved 4,150 kg of CO2 and 6,960,000 litres of water for its 25,000 backpacks.

Melawear bases the design of its t‑shirts, pullovers and blouses on the Cradle to Cradle concept. From the design, Melawear thinks about the final destination of the garment. The German brand, therefore, designs products that are easy to recycle after use and does not use synthetic materials or mixed fibres! We like the fact that the company thinks about the life span of the materials right from the start. 

The entire supply chain is long since the garments, accessories, and raw materials are imported from India and Sri Lanka and shipped to Germany. However, the distances between raw material producers and the finishing of the products are very short since these occur within the same two countries.

The backpacks and most shoes (with the exception of the black women’s shoe, which is completely vegan) contain some animal leather, so Melawear is not 100% vegan.

All clothing pieces and accessories are of high quality. The brand also does not produce seasonal collections. Durability and timeless design define Melawear’s products.

Melawear gets 90% from COSH! for transparency. We know the suppliers in India and Sri Lanka.